VIEW SHOWING PACIFIC STEAMSHIP CO. TERMINAL, ALBERS WHARF AND THE TIDE WATER ASSOCIATED OIL CO. WHARF. (Photo by Pacific Aerial Surveys, Inc.) PORT AND HARBOR FACILITIES PIERS, WHARVES, AND DOCKS The first piers built in Seattle were located between Yesler Way and Main Street, in the vicinity of the present piers 1, A, and B. Development was confined to that vicinity for over 20 years, but in the eighties was extended northward to the Schwabacher pier. Up to the time of the construction of the Great Northern piers at Smith Cove, about 1902, nearly all shipping was handled on the central water front. The establishment of terminals by the port of Seattle has resulted in the securing of a considerable portion of the foreign and overseas traffic for piers Nos. 40 and 41 at Smith Cove and much of the Alaskan and British Columbia business for the terminals at Bell Street and pier No. 11. There are at present 166 piers, wharves, and docks within the limits of the port of Seattle which are used for the handling of commerce and industry of the port. Most of the larger commercial and industrial wharves are equipped with cranes capable of lifts up to 25 tons. At the Ames Terminal on the West Waterway and at the Port of Seattle Commission pier No. 40, Smith Cove, there are shear-leg derricks with capacities for lifting 100 tons. The water-front facilities of the port are adequately protected by two modern fireboats. The Alki, which is berthed at the foot of Madison Street on the central water front, is of steel construction, with a speed of 13 knots. It is equipped with 9 nozzles capable of delivering 12,000 gallons of water per minute at 200 pounds pressure. Special equipment includes Lux and Foamite systems for fighting oil fires. The Duwamish, a steam-operated steel vessel, has a speed of 12 knots and a discharge capacity of 9,000 gallons per minute at 200 pounds pressure through 7 monitor nozzles. This vessel is berthed at the foot of Massachusetts Street on East Waterway. The city water mains furnish a pressure of 120 to 135 pounds per square inch. Complete automatic sprinkler and fire alarm systems have been installed at the terminals operated by the port commission as well as hose, hand extinguishers, roof tanks, monitors, floodlights, and other special and supplementary equipment. The majority of the private wharves also maintain special fire-fighting equipment. The port of Seattle in reality consists of two harbors—the salt water harbor and the fresh water harbor. The salt water harbor can be divided into six sections, namely, Smith Cove, central water front, East Waterway, West Waterway, Duwamish Waterway, and West Seattle. There are 95 facilities located in the above-mentioned sections of the port over which the greater part of the commerce of the port, both in domestic and foreign trade, is handled. The remaining facilities are all located on fresh water in Salmon Bay, Lake Washington Ship Canal, Lake Union, and Lake Washington and are used mostly for handling local business and as industrial facilities. Smith Cove. There are four terminals located at Smith Cove, including the two terminals of the port commission, piers Nos. 40 and 41, which are among the largest in the country. Much of the overseas passenger and freight traffic is handled over them. Pier 41 is of pile and earth-fill construction, 2,544 feet long and 367 feet wide. At the shore end of this pier there are two 2-story transit sheds 500 feet long by 128 feet wide. The second floors of these sheds provide modern accommodations for handling the passenger traffic of the terminal. The outer end of the pier is open except for a small lumber shed located on the west side. Adequate railroad connections have been provided with the Great Northern Railway, 8 tracks being located on the pier proper. Facilities have also been provided for bunkering of vessels. Pier 40, which is 350 feet east of pier 41, is 2,530 feet long and 310 feet wide and is of the same general type as pier 41. It is equipped with 7 transit sheds, one 160 by 266 feet across the face of the pier with 2 one-story wings 440 by 96 feet. North of these there are 4 two-story sheds 422 by 90 feet, and 1 fumigating plant 80 by 90 feet. The pier is also equipped with a 100-ton shear-leg derrick for handling heavy lifts. There are two surface tracks on both east and west aprons and four depressed tracks in center of pier between the transit sheds. Facilities have also been provided for handling and storage of vegetable oils in bulk in underground concrete storage tanks. Parallel to piers 41 and 40 there are two piers owned by the Great Northern Railway. Pier No. 1 is 2,040 feet long by 140 feet wide and at present is operated by the Washington Cooperative Egg & Poultry Association as a private terminal and grain elevator. Pier No. 2, 1,700 feet long and 170 feet wide, is equipped with 3 transit sheds, with a total floor area of 127,400 square feet. This pier is used as a steamship terminal handling general cargo in foreign trade. Central water front. On the central water front, extending southward from Smith Cove to East Waterway, there are 36 piers, of which 18 are used for public transportation purposes in the handling of general cargo, 2 are used as fireboat terminals, 2 as coal bunkering piers, 5 as fish handling piers, 2 as ferry landings, 2 as oil bunkering plants, 1 as an industrial pier, 1 for mooring small boats, 1 for handling and storing canned salmon, while 2 are vacant. On this water front are handled all classes of water-borne trafficoverseas, intercoastal, coastwise, and local. Five of the piers are owned by the Northern Pacific Railway, but are operated by the various companies to which they have been leased. The only pier owned and operated by a railroad company is the Union Pacific dock near the foot of King Street, which is used primarily as an overseas terminal but vessels in the intercoastal and coastwise trade are also accommodated. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad pier has been leased and is operated as a steamship terminal for foreign and domestic traffic. The Pacific Coast Railroad Co. owns six piers located between Washington and Charles Streets which are used for various purposes. The Port of Seattle Commission owns and operates two terminals located at the foot of Bell Street and Lenora Street. The Bell Street terminal is used by the foreign, intercoastal, and coastwise trade. It is equipped with dry and cold storage facilities, with a number of rooms available for the fruit and fish packing industries. The Lenora Street terminal was constructed by the port commission as an auxiliary to take care of the overflow from the Bell terminal. At present the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. occupies the southern half of the pier as a passenger and freight terminal in connection with their steamship line operating between Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver. The northern half of the pier is used by the Quartermaster Corps, United States Army, the Leslie Salt Co., and for overflow business from the Bell Street terminal. The Atlantic Street terminals, between Connecticut and Atlantic Streets, consist of two piers, one of which is owned by the port commission. The port of Seattle leases pier A from the Pacific Steamship Terminal Co. until such time as a new terminal is constructed on Connecticut Street pier. The present piers are used for handling general cargo in foreign and domestic trade. Other important terminals along the central water front utilized by the foreign and domestic traffic at the port are pier No. 14, Ainsworth & Dunn Dock Co., Inc.; pier No. 10, Virginia Dock & Trading Co.; pier No. 8, Pacific Marine Supply Co.; pier No. 7, Schwabacher Dock & Warehouse Co.; and the Canadian National Dock. All of the piers located in this section have railroad connections with all four of the major systems, although piers owned by the railroad companies are served only by their own lines. Alaskan Way and East Marginal Way provide a direct marginal route for trucking from Smith Cove to the First Avenue Bridge South, as well as a direct rail route. East Waterway.-East Waterway extends parallel to East Marginal Street from Massachusetts Street to Spokane Street and from the head of Harbor Island to West Spokane Street on the west side. There are 18 piers and wharves located on this waterway, of which 13 are located on the east side and 5 on the west side. Seven of these facilities are used for handling general cargo, 2 of which also have facilities for handling bulk grain; 3 are oil handling and bunkering plants, 2 are private industrial wharves, 2 are carfloat terminals, one is a fireboat wharf, one a fish-handling plant, one a sand and gravel plant, and one a molasses handling plant. |